Fold-over antenna boom



y 1970 L. LOCKWOOD 3,514,782

FOLD-OVER ANTENNA BOOM Filed May 27, 1968 FIGJ INvEN'rOR'. zr/v/v L.Lac/(W000 M,MQMMBM ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,514,782 FOLD-OVER ANTENNA BOOM Lynn L. Lockwood,Road 3, Burlington, Iowa 52601 Filed May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,357 Int.Cl. H01q 3/02 US. Cl. 343-882 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Animproved antenna assembly wherein the improvement comprises a firstboom, a second boom, at least one antenna field element mounted on eachof the booms, and means for pivotally connecting one end of the secondboom to the first boom, the connecting means being disposed intermediatethe ends of the first boom to define first and second opposite endportions thereof. The second boom is pivotably movable between a firstposition in which it is parallel with and adjacent the first end portionof the first boom and a second position in which it is parallel with andadjacent the second end portion of the first boom, the distal end of thefirst end portion terminating at a point intermediate the ends of thesecond boom when it is in its first position. Means is provided forfastening the second boom in its first position. Preferably, the secondboom is disposed above the first boom and the assembly includes meansdisposed adjacent the distal end of the first portion and extendingupwardly therefrom to engage and support the second boom in its firstposition.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates generally to antenna assemblies, and particularly to theprovision of an improved antenna assembly comprising a first boom and asecond boom pivotally connected to the first boom to be foldable backthereover, each of said booms carrying at least one antenna fieldelement.

Description of the prior art Antenna assemblies of the type commonlyused for receiving television broadcasts conventionally comprise asingle boom on which the various antenna field elements, such asdipoles, reflectors and directors, are mounted. Since, in some cases,such booms may be more than twelve feet long, it is very cumbersome toship and handle such antenna assemblies. Further, it is rather difficultfor an installer to handle such a long boom when he is on the roof of abuilding. It will be appreciated that an installer faces difficult andoften hazardous conditions on a roof of a building and that such longbooms tend to make his job even more difiicult and more hazardous. Forinstance, the longer a boom assembly is, the more difficult it is tocarry and hold when the wind is moving at a relatively high velocity.

The antenna assembly of the present invention is an improvement oversuch conventional boom assemblies in that a foldable boom is provided tofacilitate packaging, shipping and installing of the assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an antenna assembly comprising a pair of booms and means forpivotally connecting one end of one of the booms to a point intermediatethe ends of the other boom, the said one boom being pivotally movable180 between a first position in which it extends outwardly over one endportion of the said other boom to a second position in which it isparallel to and adjacent the opposite 3,514,782 Patented May 26, 1970end portion of the said other boom. It will be appreciated that, whenthe pivotally movable boom is in its second position, the antennaassembly will :be significantly shorter and thus easier to handle andpackage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such an assemblyincluding support means disposed on the said other'boom adjacent thedistal end thereof over which the pivotally movable boom extends when itis in its first position, the support means being arranged to engage andsupport the movable boom in that position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such an antennaassembly in which such support means is an insulative member rigidlyfastened to the stationary boom, the member being formed to provide anupwardly opening socket for receivably engaging the pivotally movableboom.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such an antennaassembly including fastening means effective to hold the pivotallymovable boom in such a socket.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentas this description proceeds.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention andthe manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the inventionitself will be best understood by reference to the following descriptionof an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspectiveview of an antenna assembly comprising the improvement of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view, slightly enlarged, of theantenna assembly;

FIG. 3 is a plan view taken from the top of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken from FIG. 2 generally along the line44.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,it will be seen that there is illustrated an antenna assembly 10comprising a first boom 12, a second boom 14, means 16 for pivotallyconnecting one end 18 of the second boom to the first boom, and aplurality of conventional antenna field elements 20 mounted on each ofthe booms. Any number of types of field elements can be mounted on thebooms 12, 14 without departing from the scope of this invention.Further, the manner in which each field element is connected to one ofthe booms 12, 14 is unimportant to this invention.

Preferably, and in the illustrative embodiment, the booms 12 and 14 havesubstantially square cross sections as illustrated in FIG. 4. It will beunderstood, however, that booms having other cross sectional shapes maybe used in the manner described herein without departing from the scopeof the invention. Further, it will be understood that, while aluminum isa desirable and often used antenna material, the material from which thebooms 12 and 14 are fabricated is unimportant to the present invention.

The relative length of the booms 12 and 14 can be selected to meetparticular design requirements, but preferably, when the boom 14 isfolded in the direction of the arrow 22 to be adjacent and parallel withthe main body portion of the boom 12, the overall length of the foldedassembly will be no greater than the length of the boom 12.

The illustrative connecting means 16 comprises a pair of brackets 24extending upwardly from the boom 12 and a hinge pin 26 penetrating thebrackets and the end 18 of the boom 14 disposed between the brackets.This connecting means 16 is disposed intermediate the ends 28, 30 of theboom 12 to define first and second opposite end portions thereof, thefirst end portion being indicated by the reference numeral 32 and thesecond end portion being indicated by the reference numeral 34. Thesecond boom 14 is pivotally movable through an arc of 180 between itsposition illustrated by solid-lines in the drawings to its positionwhich is parallel to and adjacent the main body portion, i.e., the endportion 34, of the boom 12. In either of its two positions, the boom 14is preferably substantially parallel with the boom 12.

The boom 14 is supported in its illustrated solid-line position by meansof a support member 36 disposed adjacent the end 28 of the boom 12 toextend upwardly therefrom. In the preferred embodiment, this supportmember 36 is an H-shaped member having upper legs 38 and lower legs 40as clearly seen in FIG. 4, the member being fabricated from aninsulative plastic material. Referring to FIG. 4, it will be seen thatthe upper legs 38 define an upwardly opening socket 41 for receivablyengaging the second boom 14 and that the lower legs 40 define adownwardly opening socket 43 for receivably engaging the first boom 12.Preferably, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the member 36 is rigidlyfastened to the boom 12 by means of the illustrated rivet 42.

Preferably, the upper legs 38 will be spaced apart such that, when thesecond boom 14 is in its illustrated solid-line position, the legs willsnugly engage the vertically extending side Walls of the second boom asseen in FIG. 4. Similarly, the lower legs 40 are preferably proportionedand designed snugly to engage the vertically extending side walls of thefirst boom 12. Thus, when the second boom 14 is in its illustratedsolid-line position, the member 36 will act to prevent lateral movementof the second boom relative to the first boom 12.

The second boom 14 may be held in the socket 41 provided by the member36 by fastening means such as the illustrated threaded fastening element44 which penetrates the booms 12, 14 and the wing nut 46 whichcooperates with the element 44. Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seenthat, when the element 44 and wing nut 46 are removed, the second boom14 can be pivotally moved in the direction of the arrow 22 about thehorizontal axis defined by the hinge pin 26 to its folded positionalongside the main body portion 34 of the first boom 1.2.

One advantage of the foldable boom assembly of the present invention isthat it can be folded and shipped in a much smaller package than wouldbe required for a rigid boom. Another advantage of the boom assembly ofthe present invention is that an installer can clamp the first boom 12to a conventional mast before he unfolds the second boom 14 to itsextended position. Thus, the folded boom assembly, because of itsshorter length, is easier for the installer to handle.

While there have been discussed above the principles of this invention,in conjunction with specific apparatus it is to be clearly understoodthat this description is made by way of example and not as a limitationto the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved antenna assembly comprising a first boom, a second boom,at least one antenna field element mounted on each of said booms, meansfor pivotally connecting one end of said second boom to said first boom,

said connecting means being disposed intermediate the ends of said firstboom to define first and second opposite end portions thereof, saidsecond boom being pivotally movable between a first position in which itis parallel with and adjacent said first end portion and a secondposition in which it is parallel with and adjacent said second endportion, the distal end of said first end portion terminating at a pointintermediate the ends of said second boom when said second boom is insaid first position, and means for fastening said second boom in saidfirst position.

2. The assembly of claim 1 in which said second boom is disposed abovesaid first boom, and including insulative means disposed adjacent saiddistal end and extending upwardly therefrom to engage and support saidsecond boom in said first position.

3. The assembly of claim 2 in which said insulative means is a memberrigidly fastened to said first end portion, said member being formed toprovide an upwardly opening socket for receivably engaging said secondboom.

4. The assembly of claim 3 in which said fastening means comprises afastening element penetrating said first and second booms and meanscooperating with said fastening element to hold said second boom snuglyin said socket.

5. The assembly of claim 2 in which said insulative means is an H-shapedmember having upper and lower spaced apart legs, said lower legsdefining a socket for receivably engaging said first end portion andsaid upper legs defining a socket for receivably engaging said secondboom.

6. The assembly of claim 5 in which said first and second booms havesubstantially square cross sections with vertically and horizontallyextending wall sections, in which said sockets have substantially squarecross sections with said upper and lower legs extending vertically andspaced apart snugly to engage, respectively, the opposite vertical wallsections of said second boom and said first portion.

7. The assembly of claim 6 in which said connecting means defines apivot axis parallel to said horizontal wall sections of said first andsecond booms.

8. The assembly of claim 1 in which said second boom is disposed abovesaid first boom, and including support means disposed on said first boomand extending upwardly therefrom to engage and support said second boomin said first position.

9. The assembly of claim 8 in which said support means is disposedadjacent said distal end, said support means being formed to provide asocket for receivably engaging said second boom when it is in said firstposition.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 813,612 5/1959 Great Britain. 1,067,1181/1954 France. 1,362,625 4/1963 France.

ELI LIEBERMAN, Primary Examiner.

